Crumbs: Little Pieces of my Mind

I went to my first spinning class this morning. It was so much fun. Hard work- yes- but rewarding. I'm already looking forward to going again.

I was thinking about forward progress as I loaded my dishwasher. Can you imagine when the dishwasher came out? (Google says that modern dishwashers are derived from an invention of Josephine Cochrane in 1887, while the versions with permanent plumbing didn't arrive until the 1920's.) I wonder if there were women who thought, "A machine that washes the dishes? Nah, it can't possibly clean as well as I can." It's hard to imagine someone not being excited about getting a dishwasher. It wasn't that long ago that I was skeptical about moving to MP3s over CDs. I know that's not as life changing but I was resistant to change. Resistant to change. That's my challenge with forward progress, I have to be willing to try new an different things.

Did I mention I tried a spinning class this morning? Ok, really, that has nothing to do with my thoughts on forward progress. But, I did try something new.

My 3 boys are now all playing basket ball. This is a first for our family. My oldest is most excited, except that he's also the most nervous because he's trying a new sport at age 10 when plenty of the kids his age have been playing for years. My youngest son isn't too thrilled. He decided the day of signups- when we got there to sign up- that he didn't want to play. I made a split decision to sign him up anyway. He cried during the first practice. He playing like a champ during last night's practice and then said, "I just tried to make everyone think that I was having a good time." That kid kills me sometimes. My second son is the tallest on his team and seems to play with ease. And he is neither dreading it or all that impressed. His comment last night was, "That was more fun than I thought it would be." I hope it will be a good season. Games start next week.

Just realized that my random thoughts seem to have a major theme- trying new things.

On that note, we tried a new Paula Deen recipe this week. It was too salty. Tasty, but too salty for us. It was called Cheeseburger Meatloaf. It wasn't bad but I am not sure I will rush to make it again. I got the recipe out of the Paula Deen Southern Cooking Bible cookbook that I got for Christmas. I'm looking forward to trying out more southern goodness from that cookbook.

I am working hard on grocery list making and couponing. I am a couponer wanna be. My grocery shopping had gotten out of hand- consistently running to the store during a week for this or that. So now, I go every Thursday night and if we run out of things, we wait. Week 1 of this felt good. If also felt good to tell the kids, "I can get that on Thursday" when they asked for something. At this point, coupons aside, just being more organized will make a big difference.

What else is new? I finally got a salad spinner. Seems I've wanted one for years. And, as expected, I love it.

What I want to be new- more chores for the kids.

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
C. S. Lewis